How
ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens
in life.
- Marcus Aurelius
Yes,
indeed! Today was a terrific day and it presented a real surprise. My
expectations were different than the end result. It started with
getting up a bit earlier than usual this morning, getting ready and
driving to the Winchester Oncology Center. Yes, over the mountains
and through the valleys. My buddy, Dave, drove the round trip once
again. This time there were three passengers, me, Carolyn and Dave
handling the driving chore.
We
arrived early for my second chemotherapy treatment. I received smiles
and handed out smiles to everyone I encountered. It took only a few
minutes before they called my name and ushered me into the large
treatment room. It was quite full, I may have been placed in the last
treatment chair available. By the way, the treatment chairs are
extremely comfortable. I didn't have a great view today, but I was
surrounded by a wonderful, uplifting, positive and inspiring 84-year-old woman from another small town in West Virginia. Her name was
Barbara. She was a delight and quickly engaged Dave, Carolyn and me
in conversation that continually erupted into laughter.
On
the other side was Jerry, a younger man, I believe he said he was
approaching 48. I missed his wife's name, but they were a cute
couple. Both of them were RN's. Jerry had been a police officer and a
correctional officer before he became an RN five years ago. It turns
out that Jerry and his wife were both fellow New Jersey natives. He
told me his story about his throat cancer and I told him my story.
They both were uplifting, positive and inspiring. We enjoyed our time
conversing and talked about some philosophical things as well as
enjoyed smiling and laughing together.
Meanwhile,
my smiling and laughing nurse, Suzie prepped me and then administered
the various IV concoctions that were going to help me endure the
treatment along with the chemo medicine especially mixed for me. Many
people (including me, until now) refer to these powerful and highly
toxic drug concoctions as poison. I've changed my attitude. I now see
those bags with the yellow labels as the miracle that is going to
keep me on my 46-year life plan. Suzie had numerous patients to
attend, but she stayed at the top of her game with all of us – and
did it with smiles, laughter and precision. Another angel of the
medical profession.
I
completed my chemotherapy in approximately 3 ½ hours and Suzie
disconnected everything from it that had been installed in my chest
to mainline the drugs directly into my bloodstream. I was completed.
Barbara had left probably an hour and a half earlier. Jerry and his
wife left, perhaps 15 or 20 minutes earlier. Dave and Carolyn had
left for a little while and had just returned. And, I was released to
head to my next appointment with the radiology doctor across the
lobby.
Surprise!
Surprise!
Here
is the surprise I wasn't expecting. I believed I was going to have an
appointment with the radiology doctor, Dr. Flax, to determine my
radiology schedule of treatments. When I was called, a therapist met
me, showed me a special card with a bar code on it that I was going
to receive when I left my appointment. I would simply arrive for each
radiology treatment, scan that card in a special scanner located by
the radiology dept. door, enter and have a seat. Wow! I was impressed
with the efficiency.
We
went in and then came the SURPRISE! I was about to have the first of
28 scheduled radiology treatments right then and there. WOW and
Double WOW! Not my expectation.
The
session went quickly and well. So far, no interactions or side
effects. But, this is only #1 of 28. So, while I'd love it if they
all go like this, I'm not naive enough to believe that will be the
long-term reality.
Carolyn
will drive me down and back tomorrow and Friday for the next, two
treatments. Then I'll be in West Virginia for the weekend. Monday
she'll drive me down for the first of five weeks of Monday – Friday
treatments. But, I'll stay at my other friend, Judy's, Monday –
Thursday night and Carolyn will pick me up on Friday and I'll head
back to West Virginia for the weekends.
My
Air Force buddy, Dave, drove us back to West Virginia this afternoon
after the surprise radiation treatment. It was a very pleasant drive
back with little traffic. We stopped at the little coffee shop that
opened a year or so ago in this little West Virginia town of Keyser.
We had some very good sandwiches for an early dinner – and then we
headed to the house. Dave had to get back to his home in Falls
Church, Virginia for a somewhat unexpected commitment that came up at
the spur of the moment. So, he packed his belongings, put them in the
car and left about 5:30 or 6:00 PM for the 2 ½ to 3-hour drive home.
For him, this totaled about 6 hours of drive time today. That's real
friendship.
As
an aside, Dave, doesn't like it when I do this, but I do it anywhere
because we are buddies and because he deserves my support and
promotion. If you look at the right column on the Web version of each
page of my blog, you'll see a logo for Mickey
Bo's Rock 'n' Roll Revue – you can click on the logo or you can
click on this link and it will take you to, in my humble opinion, as
the producer of thousands of hours of audio productions including
probably hundreds of hours of radio productions heard around the
world, the best Internet 50's & 60's rock and roll radio show
you'll find anywhere on the Web.
Mickey
Bo is the alter ego of my buddy Dave. He produces the show to emulate
the sound of a real 50's & 60's DJ show in his professional radio
studio located in his home. He plays the great music of that period and
he has a fantastic knowledge of the music and artists of that era
including lots of great trivia. The quality is superb (Dave is
fastidious about the quality). Each week's show has a theme. You'll
even hear tributes to artists when they pass on to a new dimension.
Dave aka Mickey Bo, is a 56 year broadcasting professional and this
show is his passion. If you've never listened to Mickey
Bo's Rock 'n' Roll Revue, I strongly urge you to click on the
link and give it a listen. You have nothing to lose and a lot of fun
listening nostalgia to gain. Drop him a note about the show and don't forget to tell him where you heard about it.
That's
it for today. Live free and be happy. EH
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